The present invention relates in general to a planar heat pipe structure, and more particularly, to a planar heat pipe structure having cross fluid channels within a planar hollow tube.
Various types of thermal conducting devices have been developed. Currently, heat pipes or heat plates (planar heat pipes) have been widely used. The heat pipe or heat plate has a tube or plate member, a wick structure attached to an interior sidewall of the tube or plate member, and a working fluid vaporized by heat absorbed from a heat source and condensed at the other end of the heat pipe or heat plate. The flow of the working fluid is assisted by the capillary force exerted by the wick structure. Thereby, heat exchange is iterated by the flow and phase change of the working fluid inside the tube or plate member.
Currently, the wick structure is fabricated from sintering powder or metal mesh. When a metal mesh is used, a support member is required to prevent the interruption of the fluid flow due to insufficient support of the metal mesh. The common support structure used in the planar heat pipe includes a plurality of grooves for guiding the fluid. These grooves are normally one or two dimensional. The one-dimensional grooves are easily made, however, provide poor guiding effect. The two-dimensional grooves, though provide better guiding of the working fluid, are difficult to fabricate.